


Baking and spying

by chick_with_wifi, fvandomtrvsh



Series: "Really, Moms?" [3]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Family Fluff, Shootweek18, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 20:23:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14776655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chick_with_wifi/pseuds/chick_with_wifi, https://archiveofourown.org/users/fvandomtrvsh/pseuds/fvandomtrvsh
Summary: Gen decides to follow in her Moms footsteps and help fight crime, with or without their permission.





	Baking and spying

**Author's Note:**

> We made a pintrest board for this au which you can find here: https://pin.it/cu6rmcq4rwou5w

“Moms?” Gen called as she entered the house and dumped her school satchel on the floor.

“We’re in the kitchen,” Root’s voice replied, followed by the clatter of her dropping something which was presumably cutlery judging from the sound it made.

“Root!” Shaw exclaimed, exasperated.

“Sorry.”

“You will be.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second, Sweetie.”

Standing out of sight next to the doorway, Gen held her phone up to her mouth and whispered, “How long have they been at this?”

The Machine’s answer flashed across the screen instantaneously: ‘all day’.

“Why am I not surprised?” Gen murmured. 

Then, figuring she had no excuse to delay it any longer, she decided to bite the bullet and enter the kitchen.

The sight that greeted her was nowhere near as bad as she had been expecting. All the appliances were still intact and Root and Shaw were standing at the kitchen island, on which was a bowl filled with cake mixture. The worktop, however, was covered with spilled flour, half a cracked egg and a fork dripping watery mixture onto the flour.

“ _Salām_ ,” Gen said, automatically switching to Farsi.

“ _Salām. Khoob hasti_?” Shaw asked, without looking up from the mixture she was whisking with a fork.

“ _Man khoobam_.” She sat on one of the bar stools and carried on the conversation in English. “Alex complimented me on my jacket.”

She adjusted the denim jacket she almost always wore, which was covered in an array of badges and pins. They ranged from a simple black iron-on badge that read ‘trouble maker’, to a speech bubble pin that read ‘I’m a genius’ and - her personal favourite - a pin in the shape of a trophy with the words ‘didn't punch anyone in the face today!’.

“Especially my new patch,” Gen continued, pointing to the patch in question. It was a pansexual flag sewn in pride of place just below her left shoulder.

“See,” Shaw said, elbowing Root, “aren’t you glad I fixed it for you? There’s no way Alex would have commented on _your_ shameful sewing job.”

Root ignored Shaw and rested her elbows on the only clean section of table. “So how _are_ things going with the object of your affections?” she asked.

Gen tried, unsuccessfully, not to blush. “Good. Things are going good. In fact, Alex invited me round to their house this weekend.”

She had been deliberately keeping that information on the downlow so she could tell her moms when they were least expecting it, and their reactions did not disappoint.

Root’s jaw dropped and she lost her grip on the small bowl of icing she was holding, which Gen had been anticipating so she was able to catch it easily.

Shaw, meanwhile, looked up from the counter for the first time since Gen had entered the room and blinked in surprise, which for her was the approximate equivalent of a spit take.

“That’s awesome,” Root said once she had recovered enough to speak.

Gen nodded eagerly. “I know. As long as Shaw doesn’t do what she did the last time I was at a friend’s house and _pitch a tent in the park across the street then camp in it, armed with binoculars and a baseball bat_.”

Root burst out laughing so hard she had to sit down. 

Shaw glared at Root and hissed, “this isn’t funny!”

“Sorry, Sam,” Root said breathlessly, “but this is hilarious!” 

Shaw shook her head, then turned to Gen. Apart from a slight twitch of her mouth, she bravely kept going and ignored the awkwardness of the situation. “How do you know about that?”

“The Machine told me. And also I saw you through the window. You’re not as subtle as you think you are.”

That sent Root into a fresh peal of laughter, so much so that she had tears in her eyes and was clutching her side with one hand.

Shaw angrily jabbed the spoon she was holding in Root’s direction. “This is your fault.”

Root took a breath to calm down and looked at Shaw indignantly. “How is this my fault? I didn’t do anything!”

“The Machine obviously learned Her snitching ways from you.”

Offended, Root opened her mouth to defend herself, but then realised that Shaw was right and everyone knew it, so she closed it again. 

She was still trying to come up with an appropriately witty response when the phone rang.

As she was closest to it, Shaw answered. “Hello?” Pause. “Ok.” Pause. “Yes.” She hung up then turned to Root. “That was Finch. He wants us in the library. New number.”

“Behave yourself while we’re out,” Root said to Gen.

“You can take Bear for a walk if you want,” Shaw said. “He’s in the utility room at the moment, so he wouldn’t eat any cake mixture when some inevitably ended up on the floor.”

“Will do,” Gen said. 

-

When Root and Shaw returned home half an hour later, Gen was doing her homework at the dining table and throwing one of Bear’s toys across the room for him to fetch. 

Her moms greeted her and the dog went into the living room to talk, where they completely failed to notice that Gen could hear every word they were saying. 

“So this Miss Devlin,” Root began. “Is she the one whose cousin owns that travel agent downtown? Because the poster in their window has out of date information on it and I keep meaning to tell them they need to update it. It’s bad for business!”

Gen gave up on attempting her homework and knelt on the floor so she could pet Bear while eavesdropping.

“Who cares?” Shaw asked tiredly. “Bottom line is this woman is in trouble and it’s our job to protect her.”

“Yes but I’m just saying, they really need to do something about that poster.”

“You know what, Root, if it means that much to you, why don’t you just break in and change it yourself?”

Root hummed thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad idea, actually. Hey, did you know she booked a globetrotting holiday with them about a year ago and visited nearly every country in Europe?”

“Why are you looking into her vacation history as if it’s any of your actual business?” Shaw asked, a mixture of bored and irritated. 

“But what if it has something to do with Miss Devlin being in danger?”

Gen saw her opportunity and decided to take it. She threw Bear’s toy for him again then walked past the living room door. “Miss Devlin is in danger?” she asked innocently on her way to the kitchen, empty glass in her hand so it looked as though she was about to fill it.

“No,” Shaw said and at the exact same time Root said, “Yes.”

“Well which is it?” Gen asked.

“She is,” Root replied before Shaw could say anything.

“Did you guys get her number? Can I help?”

“We did, yes, and not on a school night,” Shaw said.

“Actually,” Root began slowly, “Gen might be useful. Miss Devlin already knows and trusts her, and nobody would question why she is on the school campus.”

Shaw considered it for a second. “Fair point. I suggest we head to the library and see if Finch will brief Gen on this case.”

-

“Absolutely not.” 

“But Uncle Harry!” Gen protested, using the nickname she knew he hated.

Finch shook his head. “I can’t believe you got us into this situation.”

“But Gen had nothing to do with this,” Root said, confused. 

“Actually I was talking to you, Miss Groves. Why, pray tell, could you not _keep your mouth shut_?” Finch’s voice rose with every word he was saying and it was the angriest Gen had ever seen him.

“I can say whatever I want in my own home!” Root returned, matching his angry tone perfectly.

“You should have known that Miss Zhirova would be eavesdropping. It is her signature move, after all.” He sighed. “And now she is in danger. She will have to stay home from school tomorrow. I’ll see if we have anyone is available to keep an eye on her.” He picked up his phone and began scrolling through his contacts.

“You’re benching me?!” Gen exclaimed

Ignoring her, Shaw said, “Just don’t call Fusco. He vowed never to babysit Gen again after what happened last time.”

“Can you at least call Zoe?” Gen asked. “I want her to teach me all the cool stuff she knows.”

“Fine.” Finch gave up arguing and called Zoe, but she didn’t pick up and said he would try again later. Then he sent Gen to sit on the bench in the Faraday cage and wait until somebody came to pick her up.

“For the time being, I suggest you look into Miss Devlin’s personal life and see if there is anybody with cause to hurt her,” Finch said. “I’ll call Miss Morgan again.”

Root and Shaw both agreed and got to work at the computer.

Meanwhile Gen sat and glared at the wall in front of her, fuming. She couldn’t believe that Finch would do her dirty like this. He knew for a fact she was able to take care of herself, and was more than capable of being a valuable asset to them with cases like this.

“Any luck, Miss Groves?” Finch asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Root replied. “The most I’ve been able to find is that she recently began dating a new guy and things are going well, according to her social media. So I don’t see any reason for him to want to hurt her.”

“Actually,” Gen called from the faraday cage, unable to keep quiet any longer. “There is a reason. This guy she’s dating, he is a member of the mob. She wants him to leave the mob, but it’s not that simple.”

She realised her mistake as soon as the words left her lips, and immediately clamped a hand over her mouth as if that would somehow prevent everyone from hearing her.

There was a second of silence then Shaw said, “Come in here a minute, Gen.”

Gen obliged, and entered the room to be met with the sight of Root, Shaw and Finch staring at her as though she had grown a second head.

“How could you possibly know that, Miss Zhirova?” Finch asked.

Gen shifted uncomfortably. “No reason.”

“Gen...” Shaw said in a warning tone, one that Gen knew never to disagree with.

“Ok fine. I may or may not...have the entire school bugged?”

“Give me strength,” murmured Finch.

“Surely you don’t mean the entire school?” Root asked.

Gen nodded. “I do.”

Root let out a slow breath. “Okay then.” Once she was sure Finch wasn’t looking at her, she mouthed ‘that’s my girl’ and gave Gen a quick thumbs-up.

“So do you know anything else that could help us?” Shaw asked, apparently taking this revelation in her stride.

“Probably.” Gen paused to gather her thoughts. “Let’s see...So Miss Devlin is dating Brian Pym, right? And he’s a member of the mob, has been for years. When he told Miss Devlin about it, she wanted him to leave the mob and everything associated with it. But, like I said, leaving the mob isn’t that easy. They have so much power and control over everything, and members know so much that they can’t be allowed to leave and wander freely. The mob, however, want him to remain a member and leave Miss Devlin. You see the dilemma?”

“I do,” Finch said grimly. “Do you know what the specific danger is, though? The reason we got her number, I mean.”

“I think I do, yes. But I don’t know it yet.” She got a tape out of her satchel and put it into Finch’s player. “I haven’t had time to listen to this one yet, but I bet you anything it has the information we want.”

She put on a pair of headphones and listened with an expression of intense focus.

“It’a a conversation between Miss Devlin and the mob boss from yesterday,” she explained. “He gives her 24 hours to break up with Brian and forget everything she knows about the mob, or he will end their relationship on his terms. And they arrange a meeting where she will give him her final answer.” She gave them the time and location of the meeting. “But there’s no way he’ll let her walk free.”

“She knows about the mob,” Shaw said. “That means he has to kill her, regardless of whether or not she leaves Brian.”

“Exactly,” Gen said with a nod. “I reckon his whole spiel about ‘forget everything you know about us’ was trying to lull her into a false sense of security. There’s no way she would meet with him if she thought he was going to kill her.”

“These mob people aren’t exactly known for their mercy,” Root added.

Finch looked grave. “Thank you, Gen,” he said. “You have been most helpful. Miss Groves, Miss Shaw, why don’t you go and make sure this meeting doesn’t turn nasty? I will stay here and provide technological assistance.”

“Yeah. But just one thing: we still don’t have a babysitter for Gen,” Shaw said.

“How about Uncle John?” Gen suggested.

Shaw looked horrified. “We aren’t that desperate, there’s no way we are asking Reese if he’s available!”

-

“So...are you available, Reese?”

Shaw’s unimpressed tone made Root smile.

“I can be,” Reese replied over the phone. “Depends.”

“Well that doesn’t sound ominous at all,” Shaw muttered. Then at normal volume she said, “We need you to watch Gen and Bear while we protect one of Gen’s teachers from the mob.”

“I can do that,” Reese replied. “You need me to collect Gen from the library?”

“Yeah. See you in five?”

“Ten.”

“Five,” Shaw repeated forcefully.

Reese hung up before she could lose her temper with him.

“You ready to go, Sweetie?” Root asked.

“I will be in one second.” Shaw headed to the weapons cabinet and got her favourite gun, securing it safely in her holster. “Now I am.”

“Let’s go kick some ass,” Root said with a smile.

“I would prefer if you solved this without violence if at all possible,” Finch said.

Shaw rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s go.”

On their way out of the library, Root kissed Shaw on the cheek. “For luck,” she said before Shaw could ask.

She pretended not to notice when Shaw didn’t wipe the kiss off with her sleeve like she usually did.


End file.
